Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 20th, 2017

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

In line with that question, this government has already made it a priority to track down the workers who come to Canada. We talked about it in the global strategy.

The riding I represent is home to Surrey's Innovation Boulevard. In the last 90 days, over 22 companies, like Surrey's Safe Software company, have joined Surrey's new high-tech sector.

I want to know how we are making it easier to track potential H-1B visa holders from the U.S., and if there's a particular stream that makes it easy to track them if they already have a U.S. H-1B visa.

[David Manicom]

We don't yet have a specific channel based on those who are currently in the United States.

However, certainly the global situation, whether it's the current context in the United States, Brexit discussions in Europe, or a broad desire of professionals in countries around the world to look for a good place for them and their families to live, our focus is on rapid and predictable processing, a dedicated office to help companies navigate our processes, and a package of work permit exemptions for those who are coming for very short periods of time, which are often the crucial seed visits that will drive investment.

There's a package of services, as well as changes to our permanent resident programming through express entry, to make sure that those who are adding to innovation and growth in Canada and wish to stay permanently have a fast pathway to do so.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Do you have a mechanism for those who are work permit exempt to get short extensions? As with all of us members of Parliament here, immigration is a big concert of our work.

With regard to those who are coming in for 30 days, if they need another 15 days or 30 days, an expedited process to alleviate a lot of bureaucratic red tape, can they extend, not for years but for short terms?

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Twenty seconds, please.

[David Manicom]

The dedicated service channels right now apply to initial entry.

My colleague Mr. Orr and his team work to ensure that we do the work permit extensions quickly, not through what we would call bureaucratic red tape but to make sure our rules are followed and that those who genuinely have an extension to their contract can stay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

Mr. Saroya, you have five minutes, please.

[Bob Saroya, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you again, Minister. Coming from the community, you and I worked with the community long before we became MPs. These are the habits we have developed over the years.

Regarding the client services, as you know, much of our money gets spent on the immigration files on a daily basis. If you talk to one client or to 50 clients, the answer is basically the same. They will probably tell you that the process is taking too long, unsatisfactory answers, dropping of phone calls, and the list goes on. What can you tell them, Minister? What have you done to improve this, and is there something coming soon?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Thank you. That's a really great question.

Client service is not just about faster processing and reducing backlogs or eliminating them. It's also about how we interact with people. It's about how the immigration system deals with the client in terms of how they feel after going through a phone call, or how they find the complexity of the forms, the website, and so on. All those things are on the table with respect to client service, so it's not just the question of processing times and backlogs.

Client service is our focus and we meet frequently about this. I get weekly updates on the progress we're making with respect to client service.

[Bob Saroya, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Minister, we have talked about the crooked consultants. We heard the horrible stories. I personally want you to watch one of the videos that I'm going to give you on how people get ripped off. They are talking about committing suicide and so on.

I think many of us believe that if the application were made easier to fill out, people could do it themselves. Because the application is a bit harder, they end up going to the crooked consultant and this is where they get ripped off. Is there any way we can shorten it? Can something be done?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Doing something with respect to lessening the complexity and making it easier to use forms, the website, the phone, and the 1-800 number is absolutely part of our focus, making sure that, not only is it easier to use the various aspects of the immigration system, but also having the client, once they interact with the system, feel much better than they did coming in. That means putting them first, putting the client central to everything we do.

Does that mean faster processing times? Absolutely. Does that mean reducing wait times? It also includes the fact that some people don't mind waiting a little bit longer if they know what the status of their file is. Therefore, that may also include communicating more regularly with the client and letting them know the progress of their file.

[Bob Saroya, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

From time to time—we hear this on a regular basis—people who fill out their own applications make a mistake. They're trying to save $1,000 or whatever the cost is.

We asked this question many times in the last committees. If there is a smaller issue, for example, data is filled out wrong, filled out in the wrong spot, or minor variances, why can't we call or email the client to tell them to fix it?

[Robert Orr]

We're making real efforts so that we're not rejecting applications for minor issues of that nature. We're also getting better at communicating with our clients, be it by email, by phone, or face-to-face interviews, indeed.

We're also using technology more effectively. For many applications that are not electronically lodged, we now have a mechanism where people can register, and then they can submit supplementary material very rapidly. This is making the turnaround for applications much faster. It's growing, but we're seeing very positive results from that.

[Bob Saroya, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

I have one last question, and maybe you can give a shorter answer.

According to the news, most of the people crossing the Canadian border get their visas from Saudi Arabia. They come to the U.S. and then come across. In other words, they're breaking the queue or breaking the line. Is there any truth to that or anything we can do about it?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

There is data, especially from the Lacolle crossing on the Quebec side, that suggests a substantial number of the people coming through Lacolle do possess valid U.S. visas. That is definitely a concern for us and it shows us that there needs to be more conversations had with our American counterparts to address that particular issue.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

Ms. Dzerowicz, you have five minutes.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, thank you so much for your perseverance today and your patience.

I have a couple of questions. One of the key things that always puzzles me in my riding is when I have people coming and saying to me that, when they're applying for permanent residency, they sometimes fail because the language level is too high. I think it's at a grade 5 level, and in the past it's been at a grade 3 level. I've thought about this, and I thought that we want to keep it at a decent level because understanding and knowing how to speak the language, either French or English, is a key measure of success in this country.

It has made me think a little bit about settlement agencies and their basic capacity to help us settle our new Canadians or permanent residents. My question to you is an extension of what I started with before. How are we ensuring that the settlement agencies are now delivering the programs that are needed to settle either refugees or to settle our new immigrants? Do we have a way of evaluating success?

Do we have a special evaluation of ESL classes? The people in my riding are hard workers. They're working if they're temporary foreign workers. They want to become permanent residents, but some of them are just not able to pass that test because they're working, and I'm not quite sure whether those services are available to them. I wonder if you might have an answer to that for me.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Just as a point of clarification, as far as I'm concerned, I'm not aware of the tests being at the grade 3 level. I think that's too low. I'm not—

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

When I say grade 3, there might be a different evaluation, so it might be a level 5 versus level 3. I might be saying it incorrectly.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Right.

There are a number of things. Language training is critical to integration but also for access to jobs for newcomers, whether they be refugees or immigrants. We have actually invested a substantial number of resources to make sure there are enough language training spaces for people who need them. We will continue to do so. Since April 2016, we've created 7,000 new spaces for language training. We have an evaluation coming up in the spring on the effectiveness and the availability of these language training facilities. I agree with you that language training is key to integration.

Dawn can also add some remarks on that.

[Dawn Edlund]

I would just add that for the situation of a temporary foreign worker, we're not able to offer them our funded language training because it's not part of our terms and conditions, the criteria under which we run our programming. However, some provinces and territories do provide their own language training, which would help. It's complementary to our language training, but it's done under their own funding. Sometimes it's done by the province or territory itself. I know that Ontario, for example, has some funding that goes to temporary foreign workers. Some municipalities do and sometimes voluntary church groups do, but the TFWs themselves can't get our language training under our programming.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you. That actually might be where the issue is.

Minister, this is about one of the questions that one of my colleagues across the way asked earlier, but I wonder if you might elaborate a little on it, just because if the public were to hear this, they might not have the whole story. There was a question around what percentage or how many of the Syrian refugees have found jobs.

You mentioned that around 10% of the GARs have found jobs and about 53% of the privately sponsored refugees have found jobs. You said that this is pretty much in line with what's normal in terms of immigration waves. I wonder if you could elaborate a bit on that, just because I think that would give comfort to the public and comfort to us that this is just part of the process. Maybe you can elaborate a bit more on that.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Yes. Previous data suggests that, in comparison, where Syrian refugees are now in terms of their journey of integration is exactly where other refugees were in the same time period in terms of their presence in Canada. If you look at previous waves of refugees, you see that privately sponsored refugees always tend to do better faster than government-assisted refugees, but the data also suggest that at the 10-year mark the two converge and then usually become the same in terms of their access. It's nothing unusual to find those numbers.

It goes back to the point about settlement services being key to allowing these new refugees and other newcomers to restart their lives in Canada and succeed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

Mr. Tilson, please, you have five minutes.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Thank you.

One of the most popular questions that members of Parliament get is on the topic of status updates. They're having trouble getting status updates. Our recent study on client service modernization revealed some serious shortcomings exhibited by the department in terms of communicating with its client base. Most of the complaints that the committee heard were about how hard it is to obtain status updates, and of course, when they don't get them, the constituents contact us, the members of Parliament, to get answers for them.

Can you, Minister, give us some concrete actions that you and the department are taking in trying to improve this situation?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Very quickly, I'll start by saying that my ministerial office staff and I are very quick and responsive to members of Parliament when they are approached. I understand that not all requests that come to members of Parliament are based on a lack of communication from my department. It's mainly to do with constituents seeking MPs to seek intervention from the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

On what we've done and what we intend to do in terms of processing times and communication, I'll leave that to Mr. Orr.